Saturday, 18 June 2011

Channel 4 has made a costly Documentary “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” which was diffused on the 14 June,2011, for which I am sure the Tamil Diaspora thefollowers of the Terrorist Prabhakaran who wants to fulfill his dream of creating a separate Eelam State in Sri Lank, has amply paid.The diaspora Tamils played their part in it and perhaps are satisfied that it was worth themoneythey paid.

But to the non Sri Lankan British viewers, it may have been too horrifying.The very terrorist sympathetic commentators did the mind washing by focusing only on theSri Lanka Armed Forces as the villain out to kill as many Tamil Civilians as possible.That may have given the impression to the non-Sri Lankan British viewersthat there were no terrorists as such, but the government armed forces were massacring the freedom fighters. That is what the Channel 4 in fact expected.

At one stagewhen they showed an exodus of Tamil Civilians in Kilinochchi. The commentator says that all civilians indistinguishable from Tamil tigers were deliberatelyfired at by the government forcesand when the civilians fled the government forces followed them.That would have made the uninformed viewers jump from their chairs in horror, if they believed the commentators.

At the beginning the presenter of the Documentaryspoke of devastating evidenceagainst the Sri Lanka Armed forces to bring the guiltyof the crimes to justice.But the images themselves did not showthe « damning evidence » it promised. But far from being evidence it consisted of disconnected images, from different periods of the 30 year old terrorism, and only the presenter spoke of the author of the atrocities as the Armed Forces, without any visual proof of the Armed Forces directly committing the offences.They were undoubtedly those committed by the terrorists beingattributed to the armed forces.

No war is clean .Perhaps more so a “war” against terrorism.We saw some of the imagesbut not all ofthem of the capture of Osama bi Laden by the USA Special Force. The Daily Telegraph reported that Osama bin Laden was captured alive by US forces but shot him dead in front of family members, according to his daughter. The images were not shown , was that tohide the brutality of the wayBin Laden was killed ?

The images of the massacred bodies by Channel 4 only shows that horrible aspect of any war.

Those images shown by the Channel 4 by themselves do notprovide any devastating evidence to accuse the Government Forces, other than shock the Viewers of the images to the reality of any « war » .The Channel 4 in trying to cast the responsibility of such horrible « images » to the Government forces, knowing very well the ruthlessness and disrespect to lifeshown by the Tamil tiger terrorists is a deliberate attempt to accuse the Government Forces, for a “war”it did not seek , but of which they were trying to see the end.

It is immoral and unethical on the part of any journalism, let alone the Channel 4, to accuse Government Forces which was doing its duty to protect its people and the country, without any acceptable evidence, that all the massacres were caused by the Armed Forces . The Channel 4 is well known for its immoral and unethical code ofreporting tosatisfy their own planned intentions, no matter how the report is presented.

There was no doubt that the target of the film was the President who the presenter spoke of as the repressive President.The British (non Sri Lankan) viewers should knowthat the so calledrepressivePresident of Sri Lanka is not repressive as Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy who are carrying on an illegal war in Libya, in addition to those in Iraq, and Afghanistan out side their own countries putting into risk the lives of their own young soldiers.

Because, the Sri Lanka President who was elected by a vast majority of people in a very British style Democratic System, was only determined to end a ruthless terrorism that had been going on for nearly 28 years without no body being able to stop the terrorists, who were supported by the International Community.

It is his determination to end for good the cancer of terrorism that was pressing his mind when he was elected the President of Sri Lanka, and that determination of the Sri Lanka President was deliberately interpreted by the vindictive presenter of the Channel 4 document, as being repressive.

In that respect the blame for all those horrifying incidents the Channel 4 presentedon the 14thJune, 2011, should go to the International community more than to the Government Forces.But the last phase of the military operations against the terroristswas made an ideal occasion to point the finger of accusation at the Government Armed Forces and disengage the responsibility of the International Community to that “brutal’ climax,.There were no eye witnesses to accuse the terrorists who were shooting “left and right” caring less who gets killed from the midst of the panicky civilians, and the winning Armed Forces were made to take the whole of the responsibility.

It is easy for any one to make a Documentary film taking images from numerous video footingsavailable in the Internet, showing images of massacres by the terrorists through out their 30 years of terror campaign and mix the images to make the Documentary and show it asimagesof the last phase of the military offensive against the terrorists after 2008, in which the Armed forces according to the presenter were fighting an uneven war.

The Channel 4 follows the Ban Ki Moon’s Panel report which reduced the period of investigation of violations of human rights by the government forces for the last phase ofmilitary operations for the elimination of terrorism , ignoring the 28 or soyearsunchecked terrorism by the LTTE terrorists, who during whole of that of period had the upper-handand theloudly voiced « uneven » war of terror was then on the other foot.

The terrorism in Sri Lanka cannot be restricted to the final stages of the military operations to eliminate terrorism, because the terrorism continued for a long period of 30 years.If the International Community had intervened to help the government to bring about a peace settlement at the outset of terrorism, the unfortunate deaths and massacres Channelhad arranged to put together would not have taken place during the last phase of the military operations against the terrorists.

Therefore, the Channel 4 Documentarybecomes by interpretationa serious accusation for criminal negligence by the Internal Community by leaving a developing Nation without recourse to settle terrorism within its own territory by a“friendly” intervention of the International Community.The Only member of the International Community Norway who through Eric Solheim came to play the role of an intermediary later turned out to be a sympathizer of the terrorists.

Under cover of a Monitoring Mission instead of seeking to settle terrorism Eric Solheim enabled terrorists to acquire arms and ammunition, and communication material. Later he negotiated with the terrorists to enter into a CFA with the Government by which he strengthened the arms of the terrorists assigning territories under terrorist control.

Members of the International Community had direct Communication with the terrorists, with the Government Representatives or Ambassadors visiting them directly in Killinochchi, sometimes even without the consultation with the Government.The peace negotiations the Norwegians arranged in foreign countries became a farce, the representatives of the terrorists making it an occasion tomeet with Arms Dealers in Europe and purchase highly sophisticated military equipment , and even purchase planes and Cargo Ships.

That was the stage that the International Community which had very close relationship with the terrorists could have settled terrorism for good through negotiation, but they just did the opposite strengthening the terrorist armed forces, making them partnersin what as the Channel 4 said “ an uneven war” with the government which was then very ”poorly” equipped with out dated military armaments.

The Ban Ki Moon Panel, the American State Department, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,and all foreign Human Rights Activists who point their fingers at the Sri Lanka Armed Forces todayfor violation of human rights and threatening to take them before a Criminal court for war crimes are equally responsible for the debacle at the final phase of the military operations against terrorists .They cannot now escape from that responsibility showing images presumed to have been taken during the final phase of the “war”.

It seems to me that this Channel 4 documentary had been sponsored by the International Community to save their skin from being accused for serious neglect of duty of the member States of the UNO to have failed tocome to the rescue of another member Stateunder ruthless terrorism.

During that 30 years the terrorists massacred innocent persons, the men women and children in border villages.They massacred people in crowded market places, they blasted bombs inside buses, trains and at different functions where people had assembled.Then they used grenade lobbers, pistol gangs, Snipers, andhuman suicide bombs to kill, innocent men, women and children, Government Officials, police officers, parliamentarians , Presidents, Ministers, even a Prime Minister of India, and wound a President, and an Army Commander.

In the Channel 4 documentary , the narratorspeaking angrily said thatthe relentless war of the Armed Forces begun in 2008 was an uneven war with the Government Army beingheavily armed . Yes it was apparently seen asan uneven war only at the last phase of the military operations, but the Armed Forces found large quantitiesof Military arms and ammunitions , underwater submarines, home made bombs, large stocks of claymore bombs, explosives, underground homes.

But then at that last phase of the “war” the terrorists had not the numbers necessary to carry out offensive action despite the large quantitiesof material that werein their possession.The terrorists then resorted to planting their heavy artillery amoung the people using them as a human shield and shot at every thing that moved.

The terrorist were fighting a losing war, and they will have no one to answer, and probably knew the larger the number of civiliansare killed it is likely that the blame will go to the army that would remain after them.

Prabhakaran was a very cunning man and knew even at the end how to put the responsibility of massacres to the Armed Forces, and get posthumous sympathy from some quarter. He may then have ordered to shoot at civilians , hospitals, schools and their own weak feeble women cadre,( perhaps not wanting them killed by the Armed Forces, but more to put the blame on the Armed Forces).

It is interesting to understand the cunningness both by Ban Ki Moon’sPanel andfollowing it Channel 4 to select the last phase of the eliminationterrorismtopresent “ devastating evidence” against an uneven war that had been conducted by theheavily armedSri Lanka armed forces.

Why ?

The answer is simple, if the past nearly 28 years of the massacres and violation of human rights were to be taken into account the terrorists had breached all norms of human rights andthat even the Norwegian Eric Solheim and the Monitoring Missionthough heavily sympathetic towards the terroristswould not deny. And the accusation of crimes against humanity would have fallen heavily on the terrorist Prabhakaran and his murderous gang of terrorists, banned in 35 or more countries.

And hence there would nothave beenany difficulty of finding evidence against the terrorists in every murder of politicians, innocent men, women and children, killing of 600 police officers,a bus full of 35 young Buddhist monks and their Chief Priest, and all the rest of the numerous massacres, seriously wounding a President and a Army Commander.

But if the investigation of violation of human rights and massacres of civilians is restricted to the last phase of the military offensive, the number of the terrorists had dwindled and it would therefore be more convenient and easy to accuse the Armed Forces for the killings as eye witnesses are not there, other than those who think who may have done the shooting.

It was evident in the Chanel Documentary, they had even invented a witness.A woman Vany Kumar who claims she had come to visit her relatives and was displaced amoung the exodus of Civilians running away from Vanni. But she does not present her relatives with whom she had escaped, and she is supposed to have helped the Doctors in a hospital which she says was shelled by the Armed Forces, but she had not “seen” but nevertheless she says so. Is that evidence.She was shown in a pink dress once seemingly amoung the wounded not with a shocked and a sad face , but often shown answering questions posed to her not as some one who had gone through that horrible phase of war.

Half naked dead bodies of women were dumped into a truckby men making rude remarks but no actual rape seemed to have taken place.There were not even reasonableevidence of rape.A man tied to a tree had been tortured, we see him tied to the tree, we see him wounded , then we see him dead, but we do not see the criminal in the act of torture or killing the man. There is no evidence of killing.

There are many instancesthat suggest probable evidencebut there was no acceptable evidence thatmake a party responsible for the act.

Are these the “devastating evidence” on which the Channel 4 suggest to bring those who are guilty of crimes to justice pointing the finger directly at the Armed Forces ?

I could continue to comment on the Images taken by Gorden Weiss and his incompetent remark, that the UN Officials were asked to quit the area asthe Armed Forces did notwant to have the International Witness for what they were planning to do.His reasoning was an absurdity, taking himself to be a sort of an angel that had been sent by the God to save the people in Vanni, but turned away by the Satanic forces.

One can imagine now what would have happened if any one of them were killed by a terrorists.The International Community would have put the blame on the government forces and USA would have sent their marines and helicopters to evacuate their personnel and the terrorist leaders in the melee.

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

The greater influence for the formation of a vibrant Society uniting all influencing groups such as the politicians, the professionals, the religious leaders, the doctors, the scientist, the economists, the businessmen, the workers, and the farmers, should be the intellectuals, fundamentally those who form the younger generation to be meaningful citizens. It is therefore the University Professors who have the most daunting task of being an example of this unifying force.

The University Professors are a group apart and they should not imitate the other groups.There profession is a vocation that cannot be measured with their earnings, nor should they abandon their greater responsibility of the formation of future intellectuals -the future generation of responsible citizens, holding them to ransom to engage in Trade Union action for“salary hikes”-which should not be made their rightful modus operandi.

Therefore, University professors taking to Trade Union action for pay increases only bring themselves down from the high pedestalof respect towhich the people and the learned society have raised them, and fallintothe category of the workers manipulated bynincompoops like Lal Kantha and his destructive political party the JVP.

A trade Union by definition is “an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer.”It does not fit into the profession ofUniversity Professors. Because, the salary increases for University professors should be negotiated, rather than “bargained” through threats of strikes or withdrawing services to the Students-the undergraduates.

The duty of the University professors, is firstly for the students and it does not keep within the distinctionand high esteem we have for them to take any action that would directly or indirectlyaffect adversely the students who depend on them, or they are made a part of a bargain in winning personal benefits for themselves.

Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) today said that the Examinations Commissioner will be officially informed this week on the academics’ withdrawal from 2011 G.C.E. A/L evaluation process.This is not at all a decisionabout which the University Professors-“ the academics” could be proud of.

Nowhere in the world do the University Professors withdraw their responsibility towards the studentsdemanding salary increases.These are two different matters, demanding salary increases, should be separated, from their duty towards a generation of youth depending on them to be theintellectuals of the future.

In other countries the teachers and University professors go on strike demanding changes of education policies of the government , not demanding higher salaries.It is the other employees that go on strike, bargaining with the « employer » the resumption of their services, for the grant of higher salaries, thereby holding up administrative functions, which is different from holding as a bargaining tool the future of a generation of studentsby the University Professors.

The University Professors are blindly following theFUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, who has a different concept, akin to that of Shylock in Merchant of Venice, holding the future of the student undergraduatesas the bargain forthe “ precious pound of flesh.”- an increase of salaries.

It is time that the Senior University Professors come alive to seriousness of the situation that Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, has brought them into and react totake a wiser decision to break thestrained situation.

Dr.Mahim Mendis of the Federation of University Teachers Association had saidthat the country's political leadership has failed to note the difference between the Ministry Officials and University Lecturers.

This Dr.Mahem Mendis is probablya young man more influenced byLala Kantha an inveterate Trade Unionists trained in the art of misleading workers to strike against employers.Mahim Mendis had saidthat, « …. the country is led by unwise leaders. it is due to this reason that they have not yet received a solution to their salary crisis.»Mahim Mendis should know that there is a wide disparity between good University Lecturers and Ministry Employees.The Ministry Officials cannot be considered as less important than the University Professors.

In Ministry Employees taking to Trade Union action against the government, they hold up the administrative functions, but a University Lecturers going on Trade Union action hold up the intellectual progress of men and women., which is a crime as it is the life and future of the young graduates that are being bargained in return for a handsome salary increase.

If Dr.Mahim Mendis cannot wake up to this reality he should be sent to follow a course in psychotherapy, to think differently as a responsible intellectual.Mahim Mendis’s contention that the country isled by unwise leaders and it is due to thatthey have still not received a solution for their salary crisis, is again based on his immaturity.

The Government is today faced with a more “serious crisis” with more powerful players planning to stop the progress and the development of the country and if possible to divide it.Therefore, the government has to give all its attention to defend itself against these foreign forces before looking into other problems.

The Government is not neglecting the University lecturers. They were given a salary increase ofsome 36 percent not so long ago, and therefore the government had asked them to give a little more time to consider further salary increases.Andvery rightly a Deputy Minister had stated that the solution to the problemshould be found not byUnion action but by negotiations. In the light of that statement, who is acting unwisely Mahim Mendis, the government or the University Lecturers ?

Salary increases are of course a necessity in a period when cost of living is in the increase, butthere are many factors that have to be taken into consideration when salary increase are granted to satisfy employees on strike, as it would result in a chain of strikes by other employees of other sectors and the government will go bankrupt by giving into all such demands.It is simple as that, not very difficult for a wise University lecturer to understand.

Salary increase by itself does not reduce the cost of living as a University Lecturer like Mahim Mendis should know.There are other factors that come into play in the reduction of cost of living.

The FUTA action appears to be not so much for a salary increase but a means to embarrass the government and add further difficulties, perhaps encouraged by certain interested parties who want to blame the President and his government, or it is a question of “hammering the iron when it is hot”.

Mahim Mendis should be sent back to the University to learn to think better and wisely instead of allowing to make lopsided statements and mislead the other professors on his misguided concept of Trade Union action for salary increase.

It is an accepted fact that when the Medical Profession takes to Trade Union action it always leaves behind a skeleton staff to continue the work of the hospitals and other institutions that require urgent attention.Likewise, it may have been more creditable for the profession of University Professors to allow normal lectures an important tasks such as evaluation of A Level Paper marking to continue while others who have “less important work” to strike.

Dr. Mahim Mendis and Dr.Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri seem to have less work to do and their going on Trade Union action is perhaps pardonable.

Mahim Mendis seems to be having his head a bit too swollen with the University degrees he seems to have “collected” in saying that, « … university lecturers are not being given their rightful place due to those who rule the country not having had a university education. ».That is a rather pompous assertion, down grading others for lack of higher education.

It is normally the headstrong, emotional, unwise people who consider it a loss of face to abandon an action to reconsider other means to obtain their demands.The University Professors belong to the other category, the responsible, respectable and wise, therefore they should consider other more respectable and a subtle means of making their demands.It would have better results than a headlong confrontation with the “unwise” government officials.

Dr.Mahim Mendis, it is also the intelligent and the wise who consider it not a loss of face to give up when the situation is tense and seems without a solution, to step down to find other means of action.

Sunday, 12 June 2011

UK Channeltakes up controversial issues and projects them to suit their pre-planed object and in doing so itdoes not stop short ofshowing the factual information, but goes beyondto falsify the information to fit into their planned intention.

It was what they did with the documentary it presented in its TV Channelon « jihadist preachers in mosques » called the Undercover Mosque.The West Midland Police in UKreported the Channel 4 to industry regulator Ofcom over the way an undercover programme was edited.

West Midlands Police carried out an investigation into three speakers in the programme- Undercover Mosque.The Crown Prosecution Service, speaking about the programme said, it “completely distorted ” what the speakers said.

Of coursethe spokesman for the Channel 4 Gavin Dawson said, « We believe the offensive views expressed by the people revealed in the programme speak for themselves.We didn't put these words into people's mouths and all extracts were carefully contextualised….. » ( But this is what they are completely capable of doing.)

Another Mosque presented in the programmewasthe Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham.The spokesman speaking for the UKChannel 4 saidthat, « It investigated mosques run by organisations claiming to be dedicated to moderation and dialogue with other faiths .»

After the programme was presented by the Channel 4,the spokesman for the Green Lane Mosque said , that, « ….he had been shocked by the programme and was thankful the mosque's name had been cleared…. ».

Abu Usamah, one of the preachers featured in the programme, said he was shocked when he saw himself depicted. He added,that, “ It was the fact that Green Lane Mosque has a 33-year-old tradition of preaching and teaching the moderate version of Islam. To try and demonise the efforts of these people by taking their comments out of context was shocking. “

« The Channel 4 Dispatches website, in a piece about the programme, said the reporter had attended talks at mosques and found preachers "condemning the idea of integration into British society, condemning British democracy as unIslamic and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers". »

Isn’t this typical of what the Channel 4 is doing now with the video footage ofsummary execution ofnaked men with their handsbound,being propped upright to be shot by a man wearing clothes similar to those of a soldier ?

The West Midlands Police later said that,….. itacknowledges some parts of the programme may have been considered offensive……butthere was not enough evidence to bring charges. But damage was already done .

When Channel 4 was accused of“Islamophobia”, the Channel 4 deputy head of news and current affairs, Kevin Sutcliffe, dismissed accusations of Islamophobia…, stating that it would remain "fearless" in its coverage.

It was later reported that, Mr. Sutcliffe, one of five panelists involved at a sometimes heated session at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival about the portrayal of Islam in the media, said , "…We have a rounded view and approach to this issue ... we are quite fearless about what we want to say and when we want to say it," he added.

Fearless indeed…..In short that is UKChannel 4, with its pants down.

Then there was theUK Channel 4, programme « The Great Global Warming Swindle ».The documentary was welcomed by the « global warming sceptics »But the document was later criticised by the Scientific Organisationsand a Scientist who wasinterviewed in the film, whoseresearch had been used to support the film’s claim.

After viewing the programme in Channel 4, they said the film presented by the Channel 4 had misused and fabricated data, relying on out-of-date research, employing misleading arguments and misrepresentedthe position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is a habit with UK Channel 4 to fabricate, and put words in to mouths ofpersons alreadyfilmed.And this isthe Video footage prepared bya “proven fabricators of false data” and doctoring films , that thenew UN Rapporteur, Prof. Christof Heyns said « appears to be authentic », after having same tested by three US forensic experts at the Geneva sessions of the UNHRC in June 2011

This is how UK Channel 4 fabricates documents, and how the UN Officialsfor some unknown ulterior reasons said, “ appears to be authentic”The US forensic experts seem to have beeneasily fooled by the technicians of the Channel 4 adept infabricating false documents.

A Criticand a TV Reviewer James Walton speaking about Channel 4 had said, "one of the things that gets me angry is Channel 4's use of the mentally ill for entertainment - in shows like How Clean is Your House, where plainly some of the people have mental problems, or Fat Pets or Wife Swap. I get this recurring image of Channel 4 programme makers sitting round the Groucho saying, 'We've found this marvellous working class fat person for the show!'."

There are many more instances of the Channel 4, presenting false, doctored documents for a gullible BritishTV Viewers.The Channel 4 now has the expertise to make any false documentary video footage look true, and make any true video footage look false.

The video footage of the Channel 4 of the alleged summary killing of the naked men with their hands bound by a man wearing a dress like a soldiers uniform, should not have been allowed to be presented at the Geneva UNHRC Sessions held in June, 2011.The Sri Lanka delegation to the session had gone unprepared and raised no objection to the presentation of this video footage which is without any doubt a completely a faked video.

It was a pity that we did not have Dr.Dayan Jayatiklleke at least as a member of that Sri Lanka Delegation tothe UNHRC.He would have certainly not allowedthe video footage to have been presented.

Even after its presentation the Sri Lanka Delegation did not even attempt to show the apparentfalsity of the Video, despite the assertion of theUS experts who seem to lack real expertise in “Video fabrication”.

A soldier who shoots a civilian would have knocked him off with the but of his gun and shot point blank to kill without getting some other soldier to keep the man seated up right for him to shoot !!!.

There were two of these documents in whichthe persons shooting were speaking in Tamil in one and in the other which is the same in which the words spoken in inaudible Sinhalahad been “fed” in to the Video.Why did not the Sri Lanka Delegation make investigations before attending the UNHRC Sessions and got the two copies and presented them at the Session, to prove that what had been presented by Navineetham Pillai was a fake ?

A document presented at a high level forum like that of the UNHCR Session, to accuse a Sovereign State for War Crimes, should have been properly introducedgiving the names of the persons who filmed the scene, the names of the persons who had been killed by shooting,where it was taken , whether there were other witnesses to the incident,and the circumstances under which the UK TV Channel 4 came into possession of them.

Without such information the presentation of the video footage should have been rejected by the Sri Lanka Delegation.

Now the damage has been done, and the UK Channel 4 will be presenting on the 14th June,2011 another “ faked” longer film on the infamous incident“hatched by the Channel 4” to fool the apparently naïve UK viewers.

The Channel 4 should be challenged and the presentation ofthe video footage at the UNHRC Sessionshould be made an occasion to pass a vote of no confidence on Navineetham Pillai the Commissioner of the UNHRC.

But we should at least at thisstage question why this continued vendetta against Sri Lankaby theUKChannel 4 adducing mean, lowly, crude, and most unethical methods to discredit, the government and the armed forces of Sri Lanka ?Is it to satisfy a clientwho is ready to payto bring the Government of Sri Lanka before a tribunal accused for War Crimes ?

Of course money may be one consideration, as the TV Channel4pays for itself in much the same way as most privately run commercial stations. The Channel has its financial problems .

« In 2007 due to severe funding difficulties, the channel sought government help and was granted a payment of £14 million over a six-year period. The money would have come from the television licence fee and would have been the first time that money from the licence fee had been given to any broadcaster other than the BBC. The plan was scrapped by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham, ahead of "broader decisions about the future framework of public service broadcasting".The broadcasting regulator Ofcom released their review in January 2009 in which they suggested that Channel 4 would preferably be funded by "partnerships, joint ventures or mergers »

Therefore, this vendetta against the Government and Armed Forcescannot be put as a normal media tacticto increase the number of viewers by which a TV Channel’s popularity is measured, and whichwould help it to get more business enterprises to use the Channelto diffuse publicity for their products and services, thus increasing its income.

But it is more likely that “popularity” seeking is not the object in UK Channel 4’s vendetta against Sri Lanka, perhaps there is another source to get“an easy buck” from a client who is ready to pay for discrediting Sri Lanka and its Government.

In this respect ,the client behind all the Channel 4 activities against Sri Lanka, is undoubtedly the pro-terrorist Tamil diaspora living in large numbers in UK with a Bank account full of “blood money” to pay any one who is prepared to carry any destabilizing media publicity against Sri Lanka.There is a waiting queue to receive the“blood money”- the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, andmany more.

The UNHRC Navineetham Pillai too appears to be a partner in the pro terrorist Tamil, diaspora and UK Channel 4 conspiracy against Sri Lanka.Navineetham Pillai’s hands are not very clean in the matter.

In Sri Lanka there was a “war” against ruthless terrorists who would stop at nothing in its terrorist campaign in Sri Lanka, which at the last phase of its stand against the brave Sri Lanka Armed Forces was holding civilian Tamils as a human shield and the Sri Lanka Army while facing a barrage ofartillery fire by the terrorists braved the way to rescue the 300 000 civilians from the clutches of the terrorists, but yet the UNHRC Navineetham Pillaiaccused the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces for human rights violation at that last phase of the military operations against the terrorists.

But Navineretham Pillai conveniently droppedthe accusations against Bharain which had no terrorist problem but yet was accused for torture of civilians.Why ?Was it because the man involved in the torture and the first accused is a British Citizen ?

It has bee reported that, “Officer Ian Henderson, British, Head of Bahraini Security and Intelligence Bureau (1966-2000) tortured citizens horribly. He also exiled dissidents and human rights activists out of country for long years. He caused the detention of many young people for merely opposing state polices during his era. He also killed dozens of young activists during clashes between security forces and citizens calling for human rights,”

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Sacrosanct to India anabsolute shame to Sri Lanka, the 13th Amendment was introducedinto our constitution by twisting the arm of a weakened President , abandoned by Americaheheld in high esteem all his political life, which even earned him the nickname Yankee Dicky.

The 13th Amendment introduced 24 years ago under shameful circumstances has no right to beleft in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, and should be eliminated as we eliminated terrorism, its predecessor.

It wasforced to beintroduced by a schemingunfriendly Indian Governmenton thepressure brought upon it byfilm stars of cheap popular Tamil mythological films turned politicians of Tamilnadu, who were sentimentalists rather than political visionaries.The circumstances have not changed today .

India, which wasthrough out a ruthless terrorism in Sri Lanka,was a « reluctant »neighbour scheming and plottingindirectly helpingthe terrorists to weaken and break up Sri Lanka , is today acting under pressurefrom a Tamil film stars of old popular Tamil mythological films Jayalalitha Jeyaram the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalitha Jeyaram the present Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who playedValli Amma the consort of Muruga in South Indian film sagas, still thinks that Ravana is hiding Sitha some where in Sri Lanka and wants to play the role of Rama trying to wakeup the slumberingKumbhakarna to take revenge fromthe President of Sri Lanka who shemistakenly takes for Ravana.

Before her it was an old Tamil politicians in his dotage shedding tearsforvanishing terrorism,spending time writing poetry in memory of a dead terrorist Tamilselvam, who was coaxingthe Central Government of India to intervene to save terrorists in Sri Lanka.

However, besides awakening to the call of Tamilnadu politicians, (who neglect their own people , andrefuse to find a solution to the caste issueshowing more concernaboutthe Tamils in Sri Lanka) Indian Central Government does not want to miss an opportunity toremindSri Lanka about implementing the13 Amendment which is, what is left of the Frankensteinits former Prime Minister LateIndira Gandhi created in Prabhakaran,and for which India made the blood sacrifice ofone of itspotential leadersRajiv Ghandhi to keepit alive.

This tragi-comedy will not see its endas long asthis piece ofevil enactment the 13th Amendment introduced to the constitution in a hurry would continue to remain encrusted into our Constitution.The 13th Amendment just does not fit into our Constitution as it isconspicuously foreign to us, and remains a black scar in a white background.

In order to understand, why the 13th Amendment does not fit into our system , and why sooner it is removed better it would be to Sri Lanka we have to see thehistory and the background to its forced introduction into the instrument of our system of government.

The 13th Amendment is not at alla national contribution for the progress and the development of our country as a independentnation state.It was notdrafted andwritten weighing the advantages and disadvantages of it to the different communities, making it a documentthat would help to move a country progressively into a brighter and a prosperous future as it would have been in the ordinary course of writing a constitution to a Sovereign State.

How did it come into being a controversial amendment to our Constitution ? While I am writing this a top levelIndian Delegation is said to be scheduled to visit Sri Lanka to discuss various matters with regard tothe reconciliation process and perhapsthe implementation of the 13th Amendment.

All this is the surprising evolution of Indian relationship with Sri Lanka, despite allmischief it had committed against it.It is a known fact that the terrorists movement in Sri Lanka was the “child ormore correctly the Frankenstein” created andnurtured by India under Indira Gandhi, which waseven trained in special camps set up in Tamilnadu by the RAW.The terrorist group thus created was supported by the Indian Government, and Indira Gandhi issued a warning to the then President J.R.Jayawardhana, that she will not rule out armed intervention ifdiplomaticattempts to settle any matter arising out of the Tamil separatist movement were to fail .

However, as the terrorist group in Sri Lanka became considerably strong , becoming athreat totheSri Lanka’sunitary state, the Government of Sri Lanka strengthened its own forces with the help of Pakistan, Israel, Singapore and South Africa. In 1986, the terrorists were carrying outbloody terror campaigns, and the Government of Sri Lanka stepped up its own campaign against the terrorists.

In 1987, Sri Lanka Armed Forces launched the Operation Liberation inJaffna which theLTTE terrorists was holding under its control and laid siege on the terrorists.The terroristswere loosing their battleand the Government forces were in control of the situation. India forced by the Tamil Media and the Tamilnadu, demanded the Government of Sri Lanka to stop the offensive and come to a political settlement.But the Government of Sri Lanka which wasthen in a stronger position with the military advisors from Pakistan and Israel helping the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, refused to give in.

But India too wanted to show its force, and in order to save its face vis-à-vis Tamilnadu State, announced in June, 1987, that it was sending an unarmed convoy ofShips to Northern Sri Lanka forhumanitarian assistance. The Sri Lanka Government Navy intercepted the Indian convoy of ships and turned them back.It was then that India on the 4th June, 1987 mounted its “operation Poolmalai in broad day light”brazenly trespassed into Sri Lanka airspace and dropped25 tons of supply to the besieged terrorists.

“At the same time the Sri Lankan Ambassador to New Delhi was summoned to the Foreign Office to be informed by the Minister of External Affairs, K. Natwar Singh, of the ongoing operation. It was also indicated to the Ambassador that if the operation was in any way hindered by Sri Lanka, India would launch a full-force military retaliation against Sri Lanka.” (please see Wikipedia for more details)

That culminated in the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord and introduction of the 13th Amendment.The Sri Lanka Government troops withdrew from the North and the East in terms of the Accord. The Indian Government sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force and Forced the Government to prepare the 13th Amendment to the constitution, to provideregional Councils to the Tamil people of the North, making North and East a single Province.

It is said that the President J.R.Jayawardhana, did not want to be interfered further by the Indian Government and with his close associates, assisted by the consultants sent by the Government of India prepared the 13th Amendment in a hurry between October-November,1987.No time was provided for discussion, debate or making corrections.

It was at this time there was a grenade attack in parliament by the JVP injuring the Minister Mr.Athulathmudali.All the UNP parliamentarianswere kept in a hoteland was escorted to the parliament, and the 13th Amendmentwas passed within days.

Now 24 years after, the situation has changed .The terrorism has been eliminated at least from Sri Lanka, though there are still the phantoms of terrorism haunting in the west in the form of a Tamil diaspora.The North and East is being developed and soon have more modern facilities than the South. India is now showing its presence in different garbs though it has not changed much, in its relationship with Sri Lanka.

It is therefore time to assert that Sri Lanka is not any more ready to be allowed tohave the hands of India washed over its head.India has its circle of friendly Nations and we in Sri Lanka wehave ours, and it is time we tell India where it stands in relation to Sri Lanka.

India should not be allowed any more to interfere into our affairs. The Tamil people in the North , East and South and West are our people as much as the Sinhala, Muslim and others in the North, East, South or West and that we could look after all of them without India poking its nose.

And to make it more effective to let India know that India is India, and Sri Lanka is Sri Lanka we should remove the unacceptable 13th Amendment introduced into our constitution and prepare our own amendments to replace it preparing it by our own people, taking time over it, debate and discuss it , weigh the advantages and disadvantages and make our Constitution worthy of what Sri Lanka is today after the end of 30 years of Indian sponsored terrorism.

We should if necessary remind India that during the 30 years of the terrorism, India had not been our friend, though now and then in its own interest it had helped in the final war against terrorism.

And finally Sri Lanka should at least learn now, not to run to India with documents in hand to meet the Indian political leaders, and discuss with them solutions to our problems.India will never give us the correct solutions, andit would not do us anything better than the Western enemies.

Even if the Sri Lanka politicians go to India for any discussion they should be careful not to issue joint statements, as India would even use them in its own interest, as India seems to be doing with the last joint Statement issued when the Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris went to India to discuss the Ban Ki Moon’s Darusman panel report.

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

The Government of Sri Lankaunderthe President Mahinda Rajapaksa has since 2005 done so much to Sri Lanka and its people than any one else had been able to do since Independence.

His services are so great that the people cannot even believe how fortunate they have been to have elected a man like Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse as the President of Sri Lanka.He within the short time aftertaking the reins of leadershipremovedfor goodthe cancer of terrorism that had eaten into the flesh of the country for thirty long years.

He commenced infra structure development and brought Sri Lanka from a primitive state tomodernity.He started several development projects that have begun to give fruit.He settled downthree hundred thousand Tamil IDPs that was made to suffer by the terrorists that was the most reprehensible destructive element that ever existed in Sri Lanka’s long history.

Because of the President Mahinda Rajapakse, to day in Sri Lanka a new Nation has emerged and the communities begin to understand and trust in each otheras it had been never before.

This despite the most damaging unpatriotic political parties such as the JVP, TNA and the UNP that hadnot for a moment allowed the people in Sri Lanka to enjoy the hard earned freedom to move about freely in a country that was going througha « night mare » under ruthless terrorism for thirty long years, uncertain of their day to day existence.

The Government ofthe President Mahinda Rajapakse, broughtin most progressive development projects and social welfare facilities.But because of the selfish destructive politicalpolicies of JVP, TNA and the UNP the people are unable to understand the value of those progress projectsstarted by the government and benefit from them.

The Pension Scheme for the private sector is a very progressive and modern projectfor the peopleworking in the private sector who are subject to be sacked, dismissed or services terminatedeven withoutnotice , and withoutany consideration of their future, putting them into a perilousposition.In foreign countries this type of employment security with health care is provided by a « security service scheme ».Thisemployment security forprivate sector workers through a pensions scheme, was never proposed by any previous government.

It is very unfortunate that the workers had been mislead by the JVP, UNP and TNA for them to reject the project and come out in rough manifestation that unfortunately caused the death ofa worker.It is not the Governmentor the Police that should be held responsible forthis unfortunatetragedy but the political parties that misleadthe workers-the JVP, UNP and the TNA.

The other recent very progressive means to stop the continued ragging of University studentmaking the entry into the Universities a fearsome and a trying issue had been solved very wisely by the leadership training program.That too is being criticized by the JVP who had their« mafia » groups in the Universities making the life of University students miserable.

The people of Sri Lanka is not given the opportunity to evaluate on their own thevalue of the progressive projects started by the government, with the selfish politicians of JVP, UNP and the TNA who afraid of the popularity of the governmentcome forward to criticize every progressive moves of the government.

The people are confused andtake to drastic action mislead by these selfish politicians who are looking forward to make the government unpopular with every means possible,looking forward to win over the people on to their side to over throw the government and come to power themselves.

Therefore, it is advisable that the Government stop introducing further projects for some time and concentrateon the ongoing projects, and pay greater attention to build the unity of the Communities.The government should start awareness campaign on theprogressive projects it has implemented and educate people on further moves possible forsocial welfare and security.

The Tamil National Alliance is misleading the Tamil people of Sri Lanka making them believe that it is the TNA that could solve their problems.The danger in TNA is thatit is creating a problem between the Sinhala and the Tamil Communities that never existed. The Independence from the British colonial rulers was demanded bySinhala, Tamil, Malay and they had no intention of breaking up Sri Lanka between the Sinhala and the Tamils after Independence.The idea of separation was a later development which is now called the ethnic problem.

The ethnic problem was created by the Tamil politicians,Ponnambalam, Chelvanayagam, Suntharalingam and the rest, to create for themselves a Tamil enclave of which they would have been the rulers, keeping the ordinary Tamils within their caste frame, denied of other priviledges preserved for the higher caste Tamils.

The TNA politicians are the worst of the Tamil politicians, having had their birth in the womb of terrorism, and brought up in its cradle. In reality they should not have existed after the elimination of terrorism. However they found “respectability” in the aftermath of the settlement of IDPs and the general election that followed in which they were able to garner the votes of a “ terror shocked” Tamil population that was settledimmediately after terrorism.

They are now trying their bestrunning after every“demon” haunting Sri Lanka after the demise of terrorism, such asBan Ki Moon, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and theWestern“democracies” hanging on to the pro-terrorist Tamil Diaspora,to clear the blood stains of terrorism left on them by Prabhakaran and his terrorist cohorts the TNA politician’s proper milieu, their “godparents”.

Unfortunately the Tamil people who seek a political leadership have still not founda credible source.Anandasangaree who could have stepped in to fill the void, has still not understood that the best prospect for the Tamil people is to unite with the Sinhala in a larger Sri Lankan Nation.

Even Douglas Devananda has failed to accept that reality, which was understood only by Karuna Amman as he came to politics in the most dangerous way possible.That is by first being a terrorist fighting for a Tamil Eelam and giving up that virulent past to become a full fledged Sri Lanka patriot, becoming a member ofa dominantly a Sinhala political party..

The TNA sowing the seeds ofTamil racismdistances the Tamils from the Sinhala, therebybecoming a barrier for the understanding and the unity of the two Communities. The TNA is creating an artificial situation ofan ethnic difference in order to fool theTamil people to win them over to its side projecting itself as the only solution for a separate Tamil identitybreaking away from the Sinhala majority.

The TNApoliticians are an out dated group of men who have no new political outlook.They have no viable political philosophy for a Sri Lanka awakening into development after a deadened period of under development in the grip of adevastating terrorism.

The TNA Political policies followthe dream of a dead terrorist who had no deep understanding of lifeandthedevelopment of a country and its people.What we now want is a political philosophy which brings every one of the Sri Lankans be he or shea Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Malay in to the main stream politics to build Sri Lanka together without giving into divisive politics of the JVP, TNA or the UNP.

We want a political philosophy that wouldmake the whole of the people of Sri Lankaa force to stand as one, against all local and foreign forces who are all out to divide the country by putting one community against the other.

The TNA politicians who now even try to contact China and Russia to dissuade their support to the Government of Sri Lanka on the ethnic issue , seem to be going a bit too far and they have to be stopped, perhaps legally prohibiting their moves under the Terrorism act.That is up to the government.Unfortunately at the moment Sri Lanka is handicapped by a Western attempt to deny its rightful existence as a Sovereign State, leaving it to enjoy the freedom ofbeing delivered from the suffering under a 30 year terrorism.

Even though the International Community complains that Sri Lanka Government isdiscriminating against the Tamils, or Tamilnadu Tamils want a separate territory for the Tamils, the Local trouble shooters like Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Jehan Perera and others call for devolution of power for the minority ethnic community , and Ban Ki Moon appoints a panel to investigate whether the Sri Lanka armed Forces have violated human rights of the Tamil people at any time during the war against terrorism, and besides the Websites TamilNet, Sri Lanka Guardian, Transcurrent, Groundview, LankaeNews complain of discrimination against the Tamil minority, all the Tamil people of Sri Lanka are not blaming the Government or the Sinhala majority for any discrimination against them, or do not demand separation from the Sinhala Community in Sri Lanka.

My friend Thurai, is a Tamil from Kokuvil now living in Europe. He studied at the Jaffna Central College. His parents were middleclass Tamils. His father was doing a small business. Though Thurai has not been to south and lived with the Sinhala people, one of his uncles married from a Sinhala Family living in Jaffna. Through them Thurai too came to know the Sinhala people.

He says that the Tamils in Jaffna believed in S.J.Chelvanayagam and hoped he would bring prosperity to the Tamil people. He says that they were brain washed to believe in them for the future prosperity of the Tamil people as against the Sinhala Governments in the South.

Thurai left Sri Lanka in 1983 not because he did not like Sri Lanka, but to have betterprospects in Europe where he lives now. When he visited Sri Lanka in 1998, he met Sinhala soldiers who were in very friendly terms with his family.TheseSoldiers who visited his home some times shared meals with them, or they weregiven a lunch packet to be taken with them.

Thurai says that in Kokuvil though some residents supported the LTTE,they secretly hoped that the Army would one day end terrorism. He says it was the common hope of many Jaffna Tamils.

He says it took him 30 years to realize that the Tamil people had been fooled by the Tamil politicians. He supports the elected Government of Sri Lanka and says that he has no ill-will towards the Sinhala people. He likes to read my articles he says because I write about the unity of the Sinhala and Tamil people.

He tells me that even in Tamilnadu there are Tamils who disagree with the DMK policies and speak well of the Sri Lanka Government. Thurai says that his friends in TamilNadu read the Lanka web, it was in fact his friends in Taminadu who wrote to him about my articles in the Lankaweb and recommended him to read them.

Thurai assures me though the Tamils do not write articles in favour of the Sri Lanka Government or the Sinhala people, many Tamils believe that the present government of Sri Lanka is doing a lot of service which is helpful to all people in Sri Lanka without any distinction of an ethnic difference.

He says that the Tamils of the diaspora are responsible for the disaster of our country-Sri Lanka. He says that most of those who demand a Tamil Eelam live in luxury in Europe with the money they collect from the Tamils, and are cheating the Tamil people. He says he has realized that it is now the time for both the Tamils and the Sinhala people to unite and work together for the benefit of Sri Lanka, he says the Tamils and the Sinhalese should not be enemies any longer.

Thurai says he cannot understand why Ramdas of PMK is interfering into the affairs of Sri Lanka.

Thurai says that, Ramdas is asking UN and the Indian Government to create an Eelam State in Sri Lanka, but he has forgotten the Estate Tamils and the Tamils in the South. Do not they belong to the Tamil Community, or would Ramdas ask for separate States for the Tamils in the Estates and the Tamils in the South ? But Ramdas, Thurai says, should first attend to the caste problem in TamilNadu.

My Friend Thurai asks me to add, that some of the members of the Tamil Diapora are engaged in criminal activities, and they do not understand that they are by sponsoring the International Community against the Government of Sri Lanka are playing with the lives of the Sri Lanka Tamils. He says the Tamil diaspora and the Tamilnadu politicians who supported these criminal groups and sponsor the International Community should be brought before a tribunal to answer for their crimes

When I wrote to Thurai that I am writing to the Lankaweb an article about this encounter with him and sent a draft for him to see, he asked me to add the following, which I reproduce in his own words:

“At present we all Sri Lankan communities from all over the world should form a Global unit to save Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Tamils who live around the world must find out who is their real enemy, is itthe Sri Lankan Government or the persons who incite them against the Singhalese and Sri Lankan Government. After supporting them for the last 30 years what have you reached?

Do anyone of you know the Tamils behind LTTE and the war? What are their position Now? How many Tamil millionaires are there without their own capital, but on the capital earned forcibly from other Tamils, and with Bank Credits living around the world? Do anyone of you know, of any one of them visit and invest in India or in Sri Lanka? Do you accept being cheated by your own people at the cost of lives in Sri Lanka? “